Scene on the athletic field at Madrona Middle School in Torrance where an arson suspect wanted for two early morning fires was fatally shot by law enforcement personnel. (Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer)

A Torrance man sought Thursday for threatening to kill his former girlfriend and setting fire to the apartment where she lived with their 2-year-old son was shot to death in an afternoon confrontation with police at Madrona Middle School.

Asa James Dolak, 19, who police said vowed to kill any officers who tried to apprehend him, was discovered hiding in a girls’ restroom on the campus. He was bloody, carried a knife and ran from officers, who chased him and shot him near a baseball field backstop, Torrance police Sgt. Robert Watt said.

Neighbor Jose Pena said he heard a volley of gunfire.

“It sounded like one after another, six to eight gunshots,” Pena said.

Dolak was sought since 12:15 a.m. when he reportedly broke into the apartment he formerly shared with his girlfriend at 167th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard and threatened to kill her with a knife, Watt said.

Her cellphone battery dead, Emily Barrett ran from the apartment to get help, leaving her 2-year-old son behind.

Dolak then allegedly set the apartment ablaze and fled, police said.

A neighbor said she saw Barrett run from the burning building, shouting “Help, help, my baby my baby!”

Neighbor Alex Wilson said several men tried to help, but the flames were too intense.

“We could see bright orange and plumes of really dark black smoking coming out,” Wilson said. “It was the brightest orange you could see. Raging fire. It was completely awful.”

Torrance firefighters arrived, rushed inside to rescue the child, and put the fire out. The boy suffered smoke inhalation but was recovering at a hospital, Watt said.

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Dolak then called his mother, Andrea Dolak, and vowed to burn her house down.

“Asa threatened in a call to me, saying ‘You’re house is next’ and ‘You’re next,’” the mother said in a handwritten statement to the Daily Breeze.

Andrea Dolak’s house in the 3200 block of Opal Street in Torrance was ablaze less than two hours later. Police talked to her son on his cellphone a short time later.

He told officers he was upset with his family and was going to kill them, Watt said.

“If police were going to contact him, he was going to kill the police, and he was going to do so every 20 minutes,” Watt said.

Dolak’s whereabouts remained unknown throughout the day until officers searching his neighborhood found him in the restroom, about a block from his mother’s house.

Dolak, who appeared to be bloody, was holding a knife and ran from officers. They chased him until the shooting occurred. Firefighters pronounced him dead at 1:35 p.m., Watt said.

Neighbors said Barrett became pregnant with Dolak’s child while she was a senior at North High School in Torrance. Dolak’s Facebook page revealed he attended Shery High School, a continuation school in Torrance.

The couple lived on and off in the apartment building owned by his mother. Officers responded about twice a month for fights, neighbors said.

Records filed at the Torrance courthouse revealed Dolak had repeatedly threatened to kill his former girlfriend for months.

“Asa Dolak came into my bedroom making threats to ‘Put me in a grave’ if I did not let him stay at my apartment,” Emily Renee Barrett wrote in a Dec. 20 application for a temporary restraining order against Dolak.

The application recounted Dolak’s actions on Dec. 19.

“He also threw multiple objects around my apartment out of anger,” Barrett said. “I had to leave my apartment for the night because I was afraid for my son’s and my safety.”

Torrance court Commissioner John Slawson granted Barrett’s request, ordering Dolak to stay 100 yards from her and their son. Slawson scheduled a hearing for Jan. 14 to determine whether to make it permanent.

In her application, Barrett wrote that Dolak begged her Oct. 21 to pay his phone bill and reacted angrily when she refused.

“He flipped over the living room table in anger,” she said. “He left my apartment to go hang out with his friends. During that time he was gone, he called me multiple times threatening to destroy my life and put me in a grave if I refused to help him.”

Dolak, she said, returned to the apartment later, screaming and yelling.

“He slammed the door so hard that part of the door came off,” Barrett wrote.

Barrett said Dolak punched her three times in the head on Sept. 12, again telling her “he would put me in a grave.”

“I was so afraid that I was worried he would hurt me that I went to stay at my mom’s house,” she wrote.

The mother declined a request for an interview but criticized police in her written statement. “My daughter-in-law that lived in the apartment with my grandchild and could not get Asa out,” the mother wrote. “She got a restraining order (Dec. 20) and called two nights in a row to report he was violating the restraining order. ... Nothing was done.”

The mother complained that police did nothing when Dolak called and threatened to burn down her house, then “When my house was up in flames, they wouldn’t let the Fire Department do their job until they thought Asa had left the premises.”

The criticism came before the shooting.

Los Angeles County Superior Court records show Dolak was charged in October 2012 at the Torrance courthouse with spousal abuse and battery. The charges were dismissed or not prosecuted.

Dolak had two Facebook pages. One showed he attended SoCal ROC in Torrance, and the other showed he had liked several violent video games. His last posting was showing his “like” for “Play Desert Rifle Flash Game.” The entry says “Shoot them all and hold your position for six days.”